The invention relates to the field of light sources and illumination devices. More particularly, the invention relates to semiconductor light sources and illumination devices useful for providing visible light in order to partially or fully illuminate a space occupied by or viewed by humans, such as residential space, commercial space, outdoor space, the interior or exterior of a vehicle, etc.
In the prior art, light emitting diodes (“LED's”) and other semiconductor light sources were traditionally used for panel displays (such as laptop computer screens), signal lighting, and other instrumentation purposes. LED's are desirable because they are a high efficiency light source that uses substantially less energy and creates less heat than typical prior art light sources such as incandescent and halogen lights. Prior art semiconductor light sources have not been successfully and economically used to illuminate physical spaces. Additionally, in the prior art, LED's were typically individually packaged in a module, either with or without a focus dome on the module. Typical prior art LED modules lack high light intensity due to the size of the LED chips used. Further, arranging a sufficient number of prior art LED modules to generate high light intensity, such as use of a stack, lamp or array, took an excessive amount of physical space and created unmanageable amounts of heat. Consequently, in the prior art, LED's and other semiconductor light sources were not suitable for replacing the traditional tungsten light bulbs.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,941,626 discloses a long light emitting apparatus that uses a plurality of LED lamps (modules) connected in series. The LED modules are spaced apart and appear to be intended for decorative use, such as on street lamp poles and on Christmas trees.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,160,200 discloses a wedge-base LED bulb housing. The patent depicts a plurality of separate LED modules electrically connected to a wedge base.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,675,575 discloses light-emitting diode assemblies such as a mono-color or bi-color light string system. Each LED is in an envelope with light conducting optical spheres for light transmission and dispersion. The LED string system appears adapted for decorative use, such as for lighting Christmas trees.
A distinct need is felt in the prior art for a semiconductor light source for use in illuminating a space with single color light in the visible range and which can efficiently dissipate the heat that they produce. Presently, that application is served by incandescent and fluorescent lights which have high energy consumption, high heat generation, and short useful life compared to the invented semiconductor light sources.